Question

I am new to Yii framework.

I have a form with three fields. I need one of those be a select drop down element that its data comes from previously added data which are in mysql table.

How can I do it ?

Answer 1

If you have a model set up for the table that contains the data you want to use in your dropdown list you can use the CHtml::dropDownList() method the render a dropdown list, and CHtml::listData() to render that model into items for the list, for example;

echo CHtml::dropDownList(
    'attribute_name',
    '',
    CHtml::listData(MyOtherModel::model()->findAll(),'id','name')
);

I use Gii a lot, which uses CActiveForm widget to display forms, if your form uses CActiveForm too you could render your dropdown something like;

$form=$this->beginWidget('CActiveForm', array(
    'action'=>Yii::app()->createUrl($this->route),
    'method'=>'get',
));

...

echo $form->label($model,'attribute_name');
echo $form->dropDownList(
    $model,
    'attribute_name',
    CHtml::listData(MyOtherModel::model()->findAll(),'id','name')
);

...

$this->endWidget();

Note that CActiveForm uses CHtml::activeDropDownList() rather than CHtml::dropDownList() that I used in my first example, hence the slight difference in syntax between my two examples.